Police snare eight British drivers in the Alps as'cannonball' season begins

By Peter Capella and Tom Armitage
Lausanne

12:01AM BST 15 May 2008

Police catch eight British drivers speeding in southeastern Switzerland in what appears to be the latest in a spate of “Cannonball” private races through the Alps.

Nine other drivers from Britain, China and North America are due to be questioned in Zurich after they sped along a local motorway in Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Audi sports cars last week.

In the latest incident, police in canton Graubünden revealed on Thursday that the drivers were caught in identical model Audi TTs while driving in '' a racing manner''.

One shot through the mountain village of Rona at 92 kilometres per hour on Wednesday morning, while several others were later seen driving along the road up to the nearby Julier pass at speeds of up to 133 kmh, where the limit is normally 80. Police said in a statement that eight British drivers were stopped and reported to judicial authorities. Three of them had their licences withdrawn.

"These were Audi TTs with British and German license plates. It was an organised trip under the banner 'Alpine Tour 2008'," said Daniel Zinsli, a spokesman for Graubunden police force. "It was not a road race as such but they were likely inspired by such races. In the last two to three we have had several individual cases of such road races taking place."

Zinsli said that warnings from border guards of groups of high speed cars crossing into Switzerland were often only of limited use. "It does sometimes work but often these cars will travel over the border separately and then meet up within Switzerland."

Nine other people still remain in preventive custody in Zurich after they were caught speeding along a local motorway on May 5 at speeds of nearly 200 kilometres per hour. They are due to be questioned by a local magistrate tomorrow. Zurich cantonal police told the Swiss news agency ATS that the group appeared to be on a race from Milan to Paris. Their expensive British and Italian-registered high-powered sports cars, some of which were hired, were seized. The drivers could face fines of up to one million Swiss francs.

Cannonball-type runs - named after the original private race from the east to the west coast of the United States in the 1970s- have become increasingly popular in Europe in recent years, especially among wealthy thrill-seekers. The Alps are often a sought-after staging post because of the thrill of driving on mountain roads.

However, racing on the public highway is illegal and the organisers generally pass information around the Internet or claim the events are '' tours'' or '' treasure hunts'' and deny encouraging any element of speed. A group of 21 motorcyclists from northern Europe were prosecuted for racing and speeding in canton Valais last year, partly on the basis of evidence from video cameras strapped to their bikes.

European police forces are increasingly cooperating and clamping down on such races following a spate of accidents, often detaining drivers instead of just fining them on the spot, and seeking stiffer prosecutions. Since then, the runs have started to avoid sophisticated policing by reaching deeper into eastern Europe and even Asia.

Last year, an elderly Macedonian couple was killed when a Porsche 911 on the '' Gumball 3000'' rally collided with their car on a country road. The British Porsche driver was arrested as he tried to leave Skopje on a private jet. Another Gumball 3000 rally is due to cross from the US West Coast to North Korea and China in August, according to the organisers' website.